Bipartisanship Isn't Always A Dirty Word-- Take Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) And Michael Burgess (R-TX) For Example

All too often "bipartisan" has come to mean Democrats being led down the path to slaughter by transpartisan conservatives. It's not just Republicans who are screwing working families… it's also the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- the Blue Dogs, New Dems and their fellow travelers, like Steny Hoyer and Steve Israel. New Hampshire's two congresswomen offer a stunning contrast.

As we've explained before (like here and here), Ann Kuster is in a far bluer district (D+3) than Carol Shea-Porter (R+1), but it is Shea-Porter who sticks to progressive values and principles in defense of ordinary working families, while Kuster has sold out to the DCCC and Wall Street, joined the New Dems and voted against the interests of her own constituents and against everything she campaigned on in 2010 and 2012. She has tripped all over herself to befriend Wall Street and their anti-regulatory agenda, just like the good little New Dem she turned herself into. She votes like a Republican. Shea-Porter doesn't-- but Shea-Porter has gone out of her way to work with Republicans as well… except in a productive way:

Representatives Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) have introduced bipartisan legislation to close a loophole that currently gives five medical schools in the Caribbean special access to hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars a year.

Under current law, a small number of medicals schools in the Caribbean are exempt from meeting the same requirements to qualify for U.S. Department of Education Title IV funding that all other medical schools outside of the U.S. and Canada must meet. In 2012, these for-profit medical schools took in over $614 million-- more than two-thirds of the Title IV funding that went to all foreign medical schools-- despite the fact that, on average, Caribbean medical schools have higher attrition rates, burden students with more debt, and have lower residency match rates than U.S. medical schools.

Burgess’s and Shea-Porter’s Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act (H.R. 3903) would eliminate the special treatment by applying a simple fix. Under their legislation, in order to qualify for federal Title IV funding, Caribbean medical schools would have to meet the same enrollment and pass rate standards that all other medical schools outside of the U.S. and Canada must meet: at least 60% of the enrollment must be non-U.S. citizen and students must have at least a 75% pass rate on the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam. This will bring fairness to eligibility requirements and increase accountability of schools that receive federal dollars to better protect students and taxpayers.

“I’m proud to partner with Dr. Burgess and introduce bipartisan legislation to fix this egregious loophole,” Shea-Porter said. “For-profit offshore medical schools have been taking advantage of aspiring doctors and leaving American taxpayers on the hook for too long. Instead of funneling money to offshore schools, we should invest in student aid and increase residency slots here at home, in order to train tomorrow’s doctors in our own world-class institutions.”

“This bill is a needed fix to a loophole that not only wastes taxpayer money but takes advantages of students,” said Burgess. “Some of the schools in question charge a significantly higher rate than American schools, while providing what some allege is a sub-standard education.  This leaves students in debt and unable to find a medical residency. The legislation that Rep. Shea Porter and I introduced imposes fair standards to hold Caribbean medical schools to the same standard as schools here in the U.S. and Canada. It provides a fair solution to protect students, patients and taxpayers.”

According to an investigation by Bloomberg, DeVry, which has two for-profit medical schools in the Caribbean-- American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) and Ross University School of Medicine-- accepts hundreds of students who were rejected by U.S. medical colleges. These students amass more debt than their U.S. counterparts-- a median of $253,072 in June 2012 at AUC versus $170,000 for 2012 graduates of U.S. medical schools.

Additionally, these foreign medical schools are worse at ensuring students earn a degree and get a job. The average attrition rate at U.S. medical schools is 3 percent.  DeVry says its rate ranges from 20 to 27 percent.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) authored the legislation and introduced it in the Senate as S. 1822.

“It seems every time we find a loophole for-profit colleges are exploiting to make a profit off of the federal taxpayers while saddling students with debt, an investigation turns up another,” said Durbin. “Every day these Caribbean medical schools continue to receive special treatment under the law, Congress is failing taxpayers and students by subsidizing them with billions in federal dollars without adequate accountability and oversight. I am happy to have bipartisan support for my legislation to end this special treatment from Representatives Burgess and Shea-Porter as well as support from medical colleges and universities around the country.”

Two other extreme right-wing Republicans, who rarely do anything right, also signed on to Shea-Porter's bill, Larry Bucshon (R-IN) and Pete Olson (R-TX).